Persons with Disabilities Evacuation- Salem

Persons with Disabilities Evacuation

Decreased mobility, health, sight and/or hearing may limit a person's ability to take the immediate and necessary action required during an evacuation or other response to a specific emergency. Given the unique risk factors that special populations may face during an emergency, a campus emergency plan must both recognize and respond to the needs and responsibilities as shared by these individuals and others during such emergency situations, including evacuations.

The Emergency Preparedness: Disability.Gov website (http://www.disability.gov/emergency_preparedness) provides useful information on how people with and without disabilities, including first responders and emergency managers, can prepare for emergencies, including procedures on serving people with disabilities.

During an emergency evacuation, it is a shared responsibility to insure that:

Persons with disabilities are never left alone and are provided the necessary assistance to comply with the evacuation procedures

Persons with mobility impairments which prohibit the use of steps are assisted to the stairwell, there to await the assistance of first responders. Should first responders not be available and the situation demands immediate evacuation, assistance should be provided, to the best of one's ability, to aid the individual in exiting the building.